OKR case study: learn from 3 success cases (Google, Microsoft, LinkedIn)

 

When I approach companies and organizations that decide to align company objectives, scaling them at a multi-level (from macro to individual), first of all, I make sure that the reasons behind their methodological choice are clear. In the case of the method for objectives and key results, it is necessary to follow a logical OKR process that starts from the theoretical level (what the OKRs are) and is progressively ‘grounded’, up to the practical exercises designed on that specific reality. For the transition from theory to practice, I find it very useful to analyze some successful OKR case studies: studying who made it is the best source of inspiration. I hope it is the same for those who read.

• What does OKR mean? OKR stands for Objectives and Key Results.
• OKR what are they? The OKR method is collaborative goal-based management and goal-setting system designed by Andy Grove at Intel in 1975 (watch the video explaining what OKRs are and how they work). The objectives (O) are challenging, involve both teams and individuals, and have milestones, the key results (KR), that are measurable.
• Which companies use OKRs? The objectives and key results can be modulated on companies and organizations of various sizes and in every sector, from innovative startups to multinational e-commerce companies. For example, we mention Airbnb, Cisco, Deloitte, Google, Intel, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Salesforce, Spotify and the list goes on.

 

>>> Refresh your ideas on how to write OKRs correctly

>> If you are looking for templates to use, download the customizable OKR templates here

 

#1 OKR case study: Google Chrome

 

When one approaches the OKR method, one inevitably comes across Google. This is no coincidence since the method in question owes its fame to Big G. In 2014, Google made headlines, revealing how the OKRs were the basis of its organizational model, introduced into the company by John Doerr in 1999 when the company had just 40 staff. There is an entire bibliography about it.

What’s most interesting is that Google still uses OKRs to set annual ambitious goals and holds alignment meetings every three months to share and evaluate key findings. Big G’s growth strategy is firmly tied to good OKRs, as the project that gave birth to Google Chrome demonstrates.

 

OKR Google: How did Chrome become the #1 browser?

 

OKRs at Google have a long and successful history and (no doubt) some failures: who doesn’t remember Google+? It should be remembered that failure is part of the OKR mindset and does not detract from the value of the Objectives and Key Results method.

The OKR case study Google Chrome fully reflects the idea of ​​how the OKR methodology is able to explore the potential of leadership and teamworking.

When Google CEO Sundar Pichai decided to create the browser of the future (first released on September 2, 2008), he had clear ideas: it had to be not only technologically advanced but also the most popular among users.

Such an ambitious plan required an equally challenging and aspirational OKR.

 

OKR Example Google Chrome

 

Objective (O) = create and develop the next generation client platform for the web and its applications

• 1st Key Results (KR) = reach 20 million active users 7 days out of 7 by the end of 2008
• 2nd Key Results (KR) = reach 50 million active users 7 days out of 7 by the end of 2009
• 3rd Key Results = reach 100 million active users 7 days out of 7 by the end of 2010.

Initiatives to reach milestones:

• Expand distribution agreements with Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs).
• Launch the “Chrome Fast” marketing campaign to raise product awareness in the United States.
• Create a passive alert for Chrome users who are inactive.
• Expand the demographic of users by launching Chrome also for OS X and for Linux.

How does this story end? As we all know: nowadays Chrome covers a share of the browser market over 65% and clearly outstrips the main competitor Safari, which stands at around 18%. What you may not know is that to reach this milestone, Sundar Pichai and his teams faced more than one failure: in 2008 they largely missed the target, and also in 2009 they did not make it (reaching 38 million users active for seven days).

 

#2 OKR case study: Microsoft

 

As for the Microsoft OKR case study, Principal Lead Program Manager, Sandeep Chadda, explains why the system works and what lessons can be learned from it.

 

OKR: growth mindset

 

Objectives and Key Results support growth despite mistakes, indeed thanks to them. Since the goal must be ambitious, it is not always achieved. When this happens, the team has the opportunity to learn, identifying areas for improvement that may concern, for example, planning, resource estimation, KR that is too (or too little) aggressive.

In any case, it is essential to learn from the mistakes made, so that even the failures can be celebrated as an opportunity for learning (= learning zone).

At Microsoft, Chadda concludes: “Errors are expected, respected, checked and corrected.”

 

 

OKR: transparency and language

 

The fact that OKR is a shared methodology promotes transparency within the organization. Chadda highlights the effectiveness from a communication point of view: “Everyone at Microsoft has the opportunity to stay up to date on leadership priorities. This is fundamental to allow teams and individuals to align with the general objectives ”.

In addition, the OKRs offer people within the company a common and universally known language: everyone can read the OKRs of any product or another team and understand immediately the type of problems and challenges they are facing.

 

OKR Microsoft: company goals and priorities

 

OKRs define the goal and provide the purpose. It follows a natural assignment of priorities for the disciplined achievement of a clear goal common to the whole team.

 

 

OKR no limits

 

The boundaries of the organization no longer make sense to exist since all teams and each individual have a common goal and the same motivation to achieve it. The connections between team and team are also strengthened because the failure of a key result of a specific team can lead to the failure to achieve the larger and more general goal.

OKRs break down the limits.

 

 #3 OKR case study: LinkedIn 

 

As for LinkedIn, their OKR case study begins with the story of Reid Hoffman, founder, and CEO. The company was poised for a growth leap and was named CEO Jeff Weiner (current Executive Chairman).

During one of the first meetings, Weiner asked Hoffmann what the decision-making process was, that is, what decisions he should have made. Hoffman replied, “The ball is in your hand. Take it and start running “.

This handover, so simple it seems brutal, marked the beginning of one of the most successful transitions in Silicon Valley: Weiner led LinkedIn from the IPO to its current capitalization of more than $20 billion.

Hoffman knew that in order for a company to function, it must give its leader clear and unique decision-making power. And the facts proved him right. Weiner’s leadership was based on the OKR system, within which the CEO of LinkedIn charted a well-defined route.

 

LinkedIn Mission and Vision

 

To bring the boat to the best possible destination, the Mission and Vision must be clearly articulated. In this way, a strategy is embodied within which the leaders follow the values ​​set and professed, setting an example and pushing everyone to move in the right direction.

To ensure that corporate values ​​are more than a slogan, Weiner is convinced that the leader can carry out the assigned mission through the achievement of objectives clearly defined and measured by tangible and disclosed results.

The important thing is not to use the terms Mission and Vision interchangeably. The circumscribed and precise definition brings us back to the OKR method.

“The vision is the dream,” says Weinar. It is the ambitious and challenging goal.

For LinkedIn, the vision is: “Creating economic opportunities for every professional”, where professional means every single individual belonging to the more than 3.3 billion people included in the global workforce. The vision is not immediately achievable and requires the effort of several generations of workers and collaborators to be achieved, sometimes only in part. You aim for the moon to land among the stars.

 

 

The mission is the way in which the company makes practical efforts to achieve its visionary goal. At LinkedIn, the mission is to connect workers and professionals around the world to support them in growth and productivity. In this case, as can be seen, the company’s audience is the approximately 600 million users on the platform and the mission is to give them the opportunity to be successful.

The mission can be unpacked into concrete objectives that measure the company in terms of efficiency and effectiveness.

 

The OKR Google model inspires LinkedIn

 

Google is used as an emblematic example of a company whose operational mission collects the traits of an ambitious vision within it.

The corporate mission was not to be a search engine that delivers slightly better results faster on the front page. Rather: “Organizing the world’s information to make it universally accessible and useful”. The search engine and all company products aspire to fulfill a visionary mission, inspiring people to give the best of themselves.

Google has built a team of visionaries on a mission rather than a loose set of people paid to do their jobs.

 

OKR case study: how does LinkedIn use OKRs?

 

The OKR management and monitoring system is used in LinkedIn to help employees fully connect to the corporate mission, embrace their vision and increase employee engagement.

The acronym of Objectives and Key Results is not just a leadership trick to assign tasks to teams, but something that concretely supports every level of the organization.

Weiner, understanding the motivational potential of OKRs, argues that they must be related to something that you want to achieve in a specific period of time, aiming directly at the goal placed at the end of the time frame rather than focusing on the detailed plan. That point is for:

• Create urgency
• Establish priorities
• Align the collective mental focus

According to Weiner, the importance of OKRs grows proportionally to the seniority of the employee: the more prominent your position on the leadership ladder, the more you will send signals to other team members and to the organization in general.

The leader, in the thinking of Jeff Weiner, is the promoter of a sense of mental sharing: he traces the way, assigns priorities, and celebrates the victories in the stages of approaching corporate goals.

 

How does LinkedIn align OKR goals?

 

The OKR alignment meetings on LinkedIn have a set cadence as follows:

• once a week: 3-hour meeting;
• every six weeks: full-day meeting;
• twice a year: off-site plenary over several days.

Depending on the level, the meeting has a different scope, guiding the company towards micro and/or macro objectives.

During the weekly meeting, tactical updates are discussed to ensure that all members of the various teams are focused on what they are doing, sharing goals and principles, and not forgetting the superior vision.

Weiner is convinced that one of the secrets of applying the OKR method in LinkedIn is effective and efficient meetings that ensure that the team is focused and well on its way, without distractions or detours.

 

OKR LinkedIn: victories and compassion

 

In my opinion, the beauty of OKRs is that they leave room for imagination both in the stretch lenses (see the OKR Google Chrome case), and in the practical and implementation procedures.

The OKR LinkedIn case study confirms my opinion since Jeff Weiner himself starts the weekly alignment meetings in an unconventional way. The CEO celebrates the team members’ victories before discussing metrics and tactics. Around the meeting room, he asks everyone to share a success from the previous week on a personal and professional level. In this way, the climate is tempered and the energy takes on a positive sign.

Positivity coupled with compassion is the foundation of a leader’s success, according to Weiner. Being compassionate, in his view, means understanding what the other person is experiencing and at the same time maintaining the necessary and sufficient objectivity to act accordingly.

The example by which Weiner draws inspiration in making the idea of ​​the leader compassionate is that of a man forced to bear an enormous burden. The leader’s compassion will allow him to understand the person’s effort (making the other person’s point of view his own), as well as to take action to improve the situation.

Even with the necessary differences, the story of Heracles and Atlas came to mind.

 

 

Formula OKR LinkedIn

The key questions in the OKR method, as theorized by Grove, are:

• “Where do I want to go?” = what are the objectives
• “How do I want to get there?” = what should I monitor to make sure I progress

These questions are declined on all steps of the ladder: individual, team, organization. Each person has their own OKRs on a quarterly basis. What makes the difference, according to Weiner, is the mutual synergy: the OKRs of the individual are connected with the OKRs of the team which, in turn, are collected in the macro OKRs of business management. This alignment is the secret to the power and effectiveness of the OKR method.

 

 

Regarding the OKR LinkedIn formula, CEO Weiner’s words help us break it down into its basic elements:

• Objective (O): not easily achievable. Low expectations may correspond to brilliant results in the short term, but in the long run, people remain anchored to the status quo and the same is true for the teams and for the entire company.
• Key Results (KR): from 3 to 5 per quarter for every single team. A larger number is counterproductive, as it could distract from what needs to be done primarily.

 

OKR Case Study: my point of view

 

The OKR case studies from Google, Microsoft, and LinkedIn are exemplary at best because they provide macroscopic results. But the success stories and enlightened leadership stories aren’t just about IT giants.

In my experience in the field, I was able to closely follow the approach to the OKR method of companies with very diversified projects by sector and budget.

I hope I have intrigued you enough to want to know more. In this case, you can contact me to share ideas and considerations with me, also regarding your business project.